Norris
that she would be a good girl; in vain did Lady Bertram
smile and make her sit on the sofa with herself and pug,
and vain was even the sight of a gooseberry tart towards
giving her comfort; she could scarcely swallow two mouthfuls
before tears interrupted her, and sleep seeming to be her
likeliest friend, she was taken to finish her sorrows in bed.
"This is not a very promising beginning," said Mrs. Norris,
when Fanny had left the room. "After all that I said to her
as we came along, I thought she would have behaved better;
I told her how much might depend upon her acquitting
herself well at first. I wish there may not be a little
sulkiness of temper--her poor mother had a good deal;
but we must make allowances for such a child--and I
do not know that her being sorry to leave her home is
really against her, for, with all its faults, it _was_
her home, and she cannot as yet understand how much she
has changed for the better; but then there is moderation
in all things."
It required a longer time, however, than Mrs. Norris
was inclined to allow, to reconcile Fanny to the novelty
of Mansfield Park, and the separation from everybody
she had been used to.
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